“Andy always said he wanted to work until the day he died, and he managed to do it, save the last few weeks in the hospital,” said his “60 Minutes” colleague, correspondent Steve Kroft.

Rooney, whose essays capped “60 Minutes” every Sunday for more than three decades, died Friday night at age 92.

The cantankerous critic of the mundane appeared to hit a high note when he signed off last month.

“I’ve done a lot of complaining here, but of all the things I’ve complained about, I can’t complain about my life,” he said on his final broadcast — his 1,097th.

His essays, delivered from a desk he built himself, covered everything from politics to unwieldy cereal boxes, the importance of a good shoe shine, incomprehensible road maps, and his personal taste in music.